Cinnamon, the GNOME Shell fork used by default in Linux Mint 13 (Cinnamon Edition), has reached version 1.6, getting many new features: a new 2D session, workspace OSD, new applets and lots more!

Major changes in Cinnamon 1.6:

Cinnamon 2D session (uses software rendering)

Workspace OSD: you can now name the workspaces (which are persistent in Cinnamon)

ALT + Tab improvements: you can now use thumbnails or previews

Improved sound applet: larger album cover, mute buttons for speakers and microphone and more

Grid View in Expo

The panel is fully customizable: options to configure auto-hide delay and the panel height have been added to Cinnamon Settings.

many other improvements and bug fixes

ALT + Tab with window thumbnails

In my test, the Cinnamon 2D session was very slow, even though my computer is pretty fast, so it seems this feature isn't ready yet. And in fact, in the Cinnamon 1.6 release notes it's mentioned that Cinnamon 2D is used to "troubleshoot compatibility problems with Cinnamon", so it doesn't look like it's intended for everyday use just yet.

There are also some new applets in the latest Cinnamon 1.6:

window quick-list: lists all open windows across workspaces

brightness applet

notifications applet: like the "Recent Notifications" appindicator, this Cinnamon applet keeps a history of desktop notifications so you never miss important notifications again.

The new notifications applet

Improved sound applet

Nemo file manager

Also, Nemo, the Nautilus 3.4.2 fork has been integrated with Cinnamon, replacing Nautilus. This of course doesn't mean you can't use Nautilus or other file managers if you want to, but by default, Cinnamon will use Nemo (e.g. for drawing the desktop, etc.).

Want to see the latest Cinnamon 1.6 in action? Check out the video below: